A war veteran was honored, a new East Lansing Web site unveiled and an update on Michigan's budget presented, all within one hour at East Lansing's City Council meeting Tuesday.
The meeting's usual 7 p.m. starting time was bumped up to 5 p.m. so council members and East Lansing residents wouldn't miss the MSU men's basketball game against Purdue University.
East Lansing employee Lorenzo Williams was greeted with applause after Mayor Mark Meadows lauded the Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran with a resolution honoring him for his military service in Iraq.
"Lorenzo Williams is recognized and commended for placing himself in harm's way while carrying out his patriotic duties with bravery and dedication," Meadows read from the resolution. "His service is greatly valued and acknowledged as a source of pride for the city of East Lansing."
Williams, who is a member of the Marine reserves, took an eight-month break from his position with the Department of Public Works to serve in Iraq.
"I usually don't read resolutions into the record, because they are so long," Meadows said to the audience. "But this is such a wonderful resolution."
State Rep. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, also appeared before council members, updating them on work she's done in conjunction with Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed budget.
Whitmer is sponsoring a bill that is the basis of Granholm's plan to increase liquor taxes to lessen the blow of a $1.3 billion state budget shortfall.
Whitmer said her goal is to raise money to set aside for Public Act 289 grants, which provide funding to local communities that provide emergency medical service and fire protection to state-owned structures.
East Lansing is in a unique situation, having to provide fire service to MSU, including 12-story Hubbard Hall and Spartan Stadium.
"In this budget climate, there aren't many times we can talk about things positively," Whitmer said. "We really have our work cut out for us on this, but we're being optimistic."
Last year, a 50-percent slashing of these grants combined with other budget cuts eliminated $710,000 from fire services in East Lansing. The losses amounted to $16 per person in the city, while other communities that didn't have fire-grant funding only lost $5.43 per person.
"It is so critical to us to provide fire-safety service, not just to campus, but to the whole East Lansing community," Meadows said.
A new, interactive Downtown East Lansing Web site also was presented before the council on Tuesday night.
The site, which launched Tuesday at cityofeastlansing.com, allows browsers to view pictures and read profiles of downtown businesses.
"The goal is to get people downtown so they know what is downtown and enjoy the downtown," said Phil Speth, the city's senior information systems specialist.
Councilmember Vic Loomis said he thought the site was a good boost to the downtown economy. The issue has been a concern for many downtown business owners who face strong competition from the recently built Eastwood Towne Center.
"This is pretty slick in today's commercial environment," Loomis said. "Anything we can do to help these businesses is a plus."
East Lansing community events coordinator Ami Van Antwerp said she hopes that the Web site takes off. The current site receives about 1,000 hits each day, she said.
"We're inviting people to a scroll through downtown East Lansing," she said.
